Monday, July 31, 2017

Weekending

This weekend was spent baking and prepping 
for Ryan and Kyle's birthdays.


Somehow I managed to have my oldest children just two days 
shy of exactly three years apart.  
This year, Ryan wanted a BIG party at his apartment...and he wanted Mom and Dad to foot the bill.  
We compromised.
I cooked all the food for the party. 


And I had a little help from two of the cutest soux chefs 
in all of Texas!


We stayed just long enough to set everything up and sing, "Happy Birthday" to the boys.  After that we were shooed away because we weren't cool enough to party with the big guys.
Plus, who wants to drink and party with their MOM?
Am I right?




 <---ryan a="" blink182="" cake="" p="" s="" song="" t="">


Kyle's cake--->
He's a Reece's ADDICT!

Happy Birthday 
to my precious boys~
I'm so proud of the young men you've become!

Sunday, July 2, 2017

The Creamer Garden ~ 7.2.17

Things are growing UP in the Creamer garden this week!
Sunflowers, trellised vegetables, okra, peppers, and green beans.


Growing vegetables in small spaces means growing vertically.
You can grow so much more using homemade trellises and sturdy sunflowers as supports.


It was also a clean up week in the side garden.
I cut back all my tomato and tomatillo plants 
and cut down all the spent sunflowers.
Planting early and cutting back the plants mid summer 
has given me a second bumper crop late in the season. 

More veggies equals one happy gardener!

Mid-clean up

And with the sunflowers gone, I have a few extra feet 
to plant something new.
Mary Grace says we should plant more sunflowers, of course!

After clean up
But for now we are enjoying the fruits of our labor,
and that means pints and pints of 
Tomatillo/Jalapeno Salsa!


1-2 pounds tomatillos husks removed and washed
3 large jalpenos
half a red onion
6 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of fresh cilantro
splash of lime juice or white vinegar
sea salt and cumin to taste

Roast tomatillo, peppers, and garlic under the broiler 
until the skins are blackened.
Put all ingredients in the food processor 
and pulse to desired consistency.
Season with salt and cumin.

Sewing With a Purpose

A friend of mine approached me at work about a special project she was coordinating at our hospital.  Ms. Donna is a lactation consultant and she is spear-heading a special project during Breastfeeding Awareness Week.  
She asked if I could sew and gave me supplies for a dozen burp cloths and breast pads.


A dozen of each seemed like pretty easy work.
And then I asked how many she needed.
"Oh, just a few hundred!" she said with a smile.

Luckily she enlisted the help of many talented women
 and is well on her way to having her quota!


I figured there should be an easy way to sew this project,
'cause I'm all about sewing on the 'quick and dirty.'
So I came up with a template to make things simple.

I traced around the breast pads to make a cardboard template.
The breast pads are very easy to sew.
Just trace the template onto the wrong side of your fabric, 
cut out, and sew onto the breast pads using a zig-zag stitch.


My burp cloth center was 17"X 4" and I cut 
a cardboard template out to that size.


Place the template on the wrong side of the fabric and cut 
about 3/4" around the template.  
It does NOT have to be perfect!  
Just make sure you have enough fabric to fold over 
onto the cardboard.  


Fold the fabric over your cardboard template 
and press with a hot steam iron.
Remove the template and pin onto the cloth diaper.
Sew around the edges of the fabric and you're done!


I've got supplies for two dozen more to tackle this week,
and when I'm done fulfilling Ms.Donna's need,
I think I'll start on my own stash for baby gifts!